Page 137 of Men or Paws
In front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Rocco got down on one knee, told me he loved me with all his heart, then asked me to marry him.
A little overzealous after saying yes, I leaped into his arms, but miscalculated the distance between us, slamming into his body and knocking both of us into the water. It took us ten minutes to convince the local Italian police that we fell into the fountain and weren’t trying to disrespect their monument by swimming in it. Luckily, we avoided the five hundred Euro fine, but not surprisingly, the video of the proposal went viral.
The very next day, I surprised Rocco by telling him the concierge at the hotel made reservations for us at an amazing restaurant in Rome called Trattoria Monte. Little did he know that I had contacted the people he matched through the DNA test and made sure as many of them would be there as possible when we arrived.
Rocco and I had dinner with sixteen Italian relatives he never knew he had, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and even a great-grandmother they called Nonna, who had just celebrated her one hundredth birthday. Luckily, more than a few of them spoke English. Every single one of them knew Rocco from his movies, but it never occurred to them that they could be related.
The biggest miracle of all was that one of those relatives who showed up at the restaurant that night was Rocco’s birth father, Fabrizio. It was a complete shock since he wasn’t on the list of DNA matches since he had never taken the test. The only reason he showed up was because Nonna had insisted.
An even bigger surprise was that Fabrizio never even knew he had a son.
He’d explained to Rocco that he had a summer love affair with a beautiful American woman named Jenny Stevens. They both were young college students and had met at Sapienza University of Rome while Jenny was in Italy for ten weeks on a college exchange program. They fell in love almost instantly, but when she returned to the US, he’d never heard from her again. The phone number he gave her was disconnected. That was back before they had Internet, so he had no other way to track her down.
Fabrizio was devastated. He finished his degree in physics and would later become a professor at that same university where he had met Jenny, a job he still loved to this day. He ended up marrying another professor, but that ended in divorce ten years later.
Fabrizio didn’t have any kids, well, except for Rocco. He had always wondered what happened to Jenny, especially when he ate at the pizzeria across the street from the university, where he had met her for the first time. Rocco assured his dad that he would hire a private investigator to find out, now that he knew his mother’s name.
Unfortunately, that investigation turned up empty. Rocco never found out what happened to his mom, but knowing that his dad hadn’t abandoned him was more than enough to give him the inner peace he’d been longing for his entire life.
“I’ve always wanted a son,” Fabrizio had said with tears of joy.
It had been impossible for me to hold in my own tears when Rocco had hugged his dad for the first time in his life. It was crazy to think he had found him just by spitting into a tube for a DNA test.
Rocco must have thanked me a hundred times since that day and told me it was the best gift he had received in his entire life.
As for our wedding, Rocco and I got married not too far from home, at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. The romantic sunset ceremony was spectacular with sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean.
Holly was my matron of honor, of course.
Marcello was the best man.
But it was Houdini who stole the show as the ring bearer.
He did an amazing job walking down the aisle with the ring pillow attached to his collar, except for that momentary lapse when he stopped to chew on a wedding program that was dangling from Gwen’s hand.
Speaking of Gwen, she married Douglas two months after that bet they had on bowling night three years ago. Gwen retired from working for Rocco, but now lives next door to him with Douglas. As for the bet, Douglas said poop eleven times on their date, thus having to eat eleven of my dog treats. He subsequently threw up twice, although he says it was worth it. In his words, “I lost the bet, but I won the girl.”
My dog treat business has been booming, enough so that I hired someone full-time to manage the day-to-day operations. I still lease the same building, although I rent the apartment upstairs to a local elementary school teacher since I moved in with Rocco after the wedding.
Life couldn’t be sweeter, and the Emmy Awards for my husband and brother are just icing on the cake. Rocco was even able to convince Spielberg to shoot the three films of the trilogy over a three-year period, one during each sitcom hiatus.
“Okay, a toast, the first of many!” Rocco said, after the waiter returned with an apple juice for Holly. “To Josh. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you. I’m grateful to be working with such a talented writer, but even more importantly, I’m grateful for your friendship. I love you, man.” He held up his glass. “Cheers.”
We all clinked glasses and said, “Cheers.”
It warmed my heart to see how close Josh and Rocco had become—the two most important men in my life.
Holly perked up when the DJ played “You’re the One that I Want” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
“I love this song!” she said.
I turned to Rocco and gave him a knowing smile. “Speaking ofGrease, it has been exactly three years to the day since you sang ‘Sandy’ to me at that charity event. Not that I’m keeping track or anything.”
“Really?’ Rocco said.
I nodded and placed my hand on my chest. “I still get emotional thinking of you cruising up in the Ford De Luxe with the microphone in your hand. Hey, don’t you think it’s time you sang another song for me? It’s long overdue, you know.”
Rocco chuckled. “I’m surprised it took you this long to ask.”
